The present invention relates to a support element or supporting apparatus including two support legs placed a distance from one another and being pivotally supported adjacent one end thereof at a carrier member and being each provided with a foot plate at the respective opposite ends for engagement with the local ground surface.
Especially in the military area, portable bridges are used consisting of individual bridge portions transportable on bridge placing vehicles. These portions must be mounted on supports with their ends facing one another to form larger bridge spans. For longer bridge portions, they must be provided with additional supports.
In a known bridge construction (FR-PS 1 387,279) composed of a number of transportable and positionable bridge portions, an intermediate support is provided which is formed essentially by a pair of hydraulic support legs pivotally connected at one end of each bridge portion to be swingable about an axle extending transverse to the bridge axis. In this arrangement, the bridge portion is further provided above the intermediate support with a support surface formed by a recess for the free end of the next following bridge portion. Intermediate support is rigidly constructed such that with unequal surfaces resulting during adjustment of the support legs to the local terrain, a high stressing of the support legs and the intermediate support results. Further, with this construction, it is disadvantageous that the support legs are only swingable in one direction parallel to the bridge axis in a transport position and in the opposite direction, the legs take a position inclined to the bridge longitudinal axis.
The present invention contemplates supporting apparatus which avoids the disadvantages described above. The present invention also contemplates providing a supporting apparatus construction of the type mentioned above which can be easily transported with the bridge portions, preferably below same in a space-saving manner. The construction of the present invention also provides that the support for the bridge portions is not dependent upon the local terrain and that the construction thereof is extensively yielding so as to protect the support system from overloading.
An important feature of the present invention is the utilization of a holding element connecting the two support legs with each other and the formation of the carrier for the bridge portions (said carrier being supported at the support legs) as a plurality of separate carrier section which are swingably or pivotally connected with one another by means of a pivot axle.
In preferred embodiments of the invention, the support legs are advantageously supported at the free ends of the carrier sections (ends opposite the connection thereof at the pivot axle). Also in preferred embodiments, the support legs are pivotally supported at the carrier sections for rotation about pivot axles lying in the support leg plane which extend at an angle of less than 90.degree. with respect to the support leg axis. Therefore, the support legs are directionally independently swingable in such a manner that they can be arranged in storage positions under the bridge portions parallel to the bridge longitudinal axis.
According to preferred embodiments of the invention, the support elements (carrier sections and support legs) are constructed to support the bridge portions at any places under the bridge portions, with locking devices being provided at the bridge portions for connecting to the carrier sections. A preferred embodiment of the invention is particularly adapted for supporting the bridge portions at the force-closing connections of two adjacent bridge portion ends.
With the construction of the present invention, a three-hinge connection is formed by way of the pivot axle for the pivotally connected carrier sections as well as the holding element between the support legs, whereby the carrier sections, during overloading of the support system, can yield. That is, the pivot axle connecting the carrier sections, in conjunction with the yielding of the transverse cylinder formed as a holding element, permits yielding movements of the carrier sections during overloading thereof such that the force being supported is advantageously distributed throughout the entire support system. With a construction of the present invention, stresses are reduced which would otherwise occur when the base of the support legs changes during adjustment or as a result of the local terrain when the support legs are differently extended with respect to the local ground surface and are unequally extended. Consequently, the forces conveyed to the support legs are conveyed with the minimal bending moment acting on the support legs due to the three hinge construction referred to above.
Further preferred embodiments of the invention provide wedges arranged on the carrier sections between the bridge portions and the carrier sections. These wedges permit changing of the support legs to attain higher support levels by moving the support legs closer to one another, with consequent pivotal movement of the carrier section at the pivot axle connecting the carrier sections.
Preferred embodiments of the invention also include a swinging device at the head or upper portion of each of the support legs for forcibly moving the same between storage and in-use positions. Each swinging device includes hydraulic cylinders which support themselves at a head plate of the carrier section and have piston rods of the cylinders attached to a segment fastened to the corresponding swinging axle of the support leg. According to a further particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the cylinders are pivotally supported at the head plate and are connected with levers radially branching from the segment such that during swinging movement of the support legs, the hydraulic cylinders act together in one swinging direction. That is, a plurality of hydraulic cylinders at each support leg act together to forcibly swing the support leg in said one swinging direction. In this manner, after a small rotation of the segment from a neutral central position, the two hydraulic cylinders exhibit a common direction of force.
These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, several embodiments in accordance with the present invention.